W70 was a two-stage,
thermonuclear
Thermonuclear fusion is the process of atomic nuclei combining or “fusing” using high temperatures to drive them close enough together for this to become possible. There are two forms of thermonuclear fusion: ''uncontrolled'', in which the re ...
warhead that was developed for the
MGM-52 Lance missile by the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
. Designed by
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) is a federal research facility in Livermore, California, United States. The lab was originally established as the University of California Radiation Laboratory, Livermore Branch in 1952 in response ...
, the Mod 1 and Mod 2 version of the weapon entered service in 1973, while the
enhanced radiation ("neutron bomb") Mod 3 weapon entered service in 1981. The last W70 warhead was dismantled in February 1996.
Design
The Mod 1 and Mod 2 versions of the weapon are estimated to have had a variable yield of , while the Mod 3 enhanced radiation version was estimated to have a yield of
The Mod 1 reportedly had more yield options than the Mod 2 warheads. The Mod 3 was reportedly 40% fission and 60% fusion, with two yield options. The weapon weighed , and was long and in diameter.
Mod 1 and 2 weapons were produced from June 1973 to July 1977, while Mod 3 weapons were produced from August 1983 to February 1984. 900 Mod 1 and 2 warheads and 380 Mod 3 warheads were manufactured. The last warheads were retired in September 1992.
[
The weapon was the successor to the previous proposed Lance warhead, the ]W63 The W63 was the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory's entry into a brief competition between Livermore and Los Alamos to design a warhead for the Army's Lance tactical surface to surface missile.
In July 1964 both Livermore Labs and Los Alamos started d ...
.[ The weapon used a category D Permissive Action Link and had command disable, but lacked insensitive high explosives and enhanced nuclear detonation safety.
The inventor of the neutron bomb, Samuel Cohen, has criticized the description of the W70 as a "neutron bomb":
]the W-70 ... is not even remotely a "neutron bomb." Instead of being the type of weapon that, in the popular mind, "kills people and spares buildings" it is one that both kills and physically destroys on a massive scale. The W-70 is not a discriminate weapon, like the neutron bomb—which, incidentally, should be considered a weapon that "kills enemy personnel while sparing the physical fabric of the attacked populace, and even the populace too."
See also
* MGM-52 Lance
* List of nuclear weapons
Bibliography
References
External links
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Nuclear warheads of the United States
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Military equipment introduced in the 1970s
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